


Coming of Age

by quebaek (anonymousloris)



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Space, Anal Fingering, Angst, Bickering, Drinking, Fluff, M/M, Riding, Smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-19
Updated: 2017-08-19
Packaged: 2018-12-17 08:14:03
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,069
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11847546
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anonymousloris/pseuds/quebaek
Summary: Jongin and Sehun are the last of their friends to graduate from the space academy. To celebrate, graduates always take a trip to the asteroid belt. Sehun decides to invite Junmyeon along for the nostalgia. Or maybe for something else too.





	Coming of Age

**Author's Note:**

  * For [oneforyourfire](https://archiveofourown.org/users/oneforyourfire/gifts), [Shayshay](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shayshay/gifts).



> I had one heck of a time writing this. I wrote it for oneforyourfire and I really do hope they enjoy it if only to put my mild anxiety at ease. If anybody reads this and doesn't like that's cool, just tell me when my anxiety isn't listening. It doesn't need to know anyways.
> 
> Enjoy!

“You asked Junmyeon along?” Jongin asked, pulling the sheets off of his bed and folding them up with expert care.

Sehun was watching him from his lounging position on his own bed (which was still fully made), “Yeah. I thought he’d be fun.”

“He’s a total dweeb, Sehun.” Jongin responded, tossing a smile over his shoulder before stacking the last of the sheets on the pile, and searching for an appropriate bin to put them into.

Sehun gave him a look from over top his watch display. When he first moved into the space academy four years ago and met Jongin, he would have never pegged him as a neat sort of guy, but Jongin wasn’t messy, just forgetful. Therefore he had a very orderly and logical way or organizing everything to avoid forgetting and losing things all the time. Though that still managed to happen every now and again.

“Fair point.” Sehun went back to scrolling Exordium, the only social networking app anybody had nowadays, “But, you know …”

“You totally have it bad for him?” Jongin asked, pulling a plastic tub out from their shared closet and walking back over towards his bed.

“Uh absolutely not.” Sehun rolled his eyes, “I’m above romantic and sexual urges.”

“Uh-huh.” Jongin said sarcastically as he dropped the bin on his bed. He leaned an arm against it and turned to look back at Sehun who was still navigating Exordium on his projected watch display, “You know we have to be out by 0900 tomorrow morning, right? And it’s … 2100 right now?”

“Yep.” Sehun made no moves to get off his bed.

Jongin looked at Sehun’s still entirely decorated portion of the room and shook his head, “Well, don’t ask me for help when you fall asleep and then wake up in a panic.”

“Good thing that won’t happen.”

It did, in fact, happen. And Jongin did, in fact, end up helping Sehun out at 0300.

* * *

They had just finished packing all of their stuff into the cargo area of the ship. That is of course, minus the stuff they had packed for the trip, which everyone had in bags or backpacks. Enough changes of clothes for a few days’ journey, a favorite snack, and all their toiletries in those quick vacuum bags.

“Are you excited?” Jongin asked, sealing the door to the cargo area and turning back to Sehun, who was looking up at the ship from the bay floor. He had been staring at the sleekness of the craft for a little while and Jongin had started to worry he was entirely lost in his thoughts.

“Oh, yeah.” Sehun grinned, “I just … every year I watched the graduates take their trips after graduation and now I’m finally doing it myself. It’s crazy.”

Jongin chuckled, looking up at the sleek ship too, “Yeah, we’re all grown up and big now.”

Sehun frowned, “I’m still sort of bummed that we’re going to different quadrants.”

“Hey.” Jongin stepped beside him and hooked an arm around Sehun’s shoulder. The wrap was a bit difficult because the guy was way broader than he should be, but Jongin made it work, “Come on. We can’t be sad yet. Enjoy the trip, man.”

“Yeah, you’re right.” Sehun nodded.

Jongin left Sehun with a solid pat on the back before letting go of his shoulders and slipping back into standing beside him and admiring the vessel that would take them on one last journey together before the real world called their names.

“Alright!” Came a voice from the stairs into the body of the aircraft, “Ready to hit the asteroid belt?”

Sehun raised his eyebrows, unaware of the fact that somebody was in the ship already. He wondered who it must have been since Jongin and Sehun had decided to go together to the asteroid belt and meet the other graduates there. 

Just then, a boy with beautifully sharp eyes and striking, but obviously dyed, blond hair stepped off the ship. He was wearing a blue space academy jumpsuit with the word pilot printed in clean white letters on the breast. He also looked oddly familiar to Sehun.

“Minseok?” He asked, frowning.

“Aw, hey, Hunnie.” Minseok smiled, taking a couple of steps towards them, “You look taller than I remember.”

Minseok had been a senior when Jongin and Sehun entered the academy walls. Well, actually, a super senior of sorts, since he had to take a year off following a particularly nasty training accident. It was a surprise that he even decided to stay in the pilot program, and a miracle that he managed to graduate 5th out of 40 pilots from that year. He has serious skills.

“Why is Minseok here?” Sehun asked quietly.

“We agreed we could both take one person! And how else were we gonna get there? I don’t have a ship.” Jongin reasoned.

“And I thought I was taking an old guy.” Sehun rolled his eyes. He had nothing against Minseok, but he hated surprises. However, Jongin was right on both accounts and he knew that an argument would never end since they were both very prideful people, so he left it at that. Thankfully, he heard a couple footsteps behind him moments later that saved him from an awkward situation.

“Sehun!” Junmyeon called out from behind him.

Sehun spun around pretty quickly, seeing the guy casually striding up to them with a complacent smile on his face. He was still in his work clothes, since Sehun could see the black of his protective pants. However, Junmyeon had attempted to hide it with a rugged looking leather jacket thrown on top. A sort of Indiana Jones vibe if that was possible.

“Hey.” Sehun waved back, a sudden smile perched on his lips, “You’re earlier than I expected.”

Junmyeon chuckled, finally meeting up with the group of boys, “Well, they let me go a bit early since they knew I took vacation days for the long weekend.”

“Oh, I’m sorry for that.” Sehun apologized.

Junmyeon waved him off, “Ah, no need. I always felt like I was missing out since I didn’t go when I graduated.”

Jongin rolled his eyes, “I can promise that you didn’t. I hear it isn’t really that fun.”

Junmyeon shrugged. Sehun knew he was playing it off, but the guy always spent more time studying than playing in school. Which, in the culinary line of work, may seem unlikely, but if you graduate at the top of your class then you get to pick what quadrant you’re assigned to. And thank god, because who else would Sehun have to bug to make him food late at night if Junmyeon hadn’t.

“Nice to have you on board.” Minseok said, “Do we want to shove off early then?”

“Yes please.” Jongin responded for them.

* * *

The bubbled window of this little nook found Sehun quite well. There were pillows and blankets in the little space, so obviously Minseok took naps here regularly. And it was … mesmerizing. Once they got on the ship, everybody had settled in, munching on snacks and talking, but Sehun had grown tired from all the moving so he went to find somewhere to get a solid 30 minutes of shut-eye in.

But somehow he couldn’t fall asleep.

With his hands resting behind his head and his back flat on the surface of the nook, he stared out the rounded window. The galaxies were flying past, stars rolling across his field of view and into the distance. It made him think about how fast they were going as they left the space academy and, subsequently, the Alpha Quadrant Station. He had been enjoying the scenery at first, trying to name planets and constellations he knew from classes, but eventually just let it taper off into philosophical ponderings.

“There you are.” Junmyeon’s voice pulled Sehun back into reality as he approached, “We were wondering where you snuck off to.”

Sehun chuckled, sparing a glance over at Junmyeon, “I found this window and couldn’t stop staring.”

Junmyeon paused, leaning up against one of the sides of the nook and looking into the recesses of space himself. It took mere seconds for him to understand what Sehun was talking about. He had lived in space his whole life, but this view of it felt fresh and captivating.

“Wow.” He said softly.

“Yeah. Right?” Sehun agreed.

“Do you stare out windows a lot?” Junmyeon asked.

“Not really.” He answered, “I suppose I’ve just been feeling wistful lately.”

* * *

Jongin had been around for as long as Sehun could remember. When they first got paired up in the space academy dorms, he hated him. The guy was all charisma and smiles. It made Sehun feel inferior or like some sort of battle for dominance was going on silently.

But that’s just how Jongin is. He’s stunning without even trying. There were so many times the two of them were headed for certain trouble and Jongin sweet talked his way to freedom. In fact, Sehun would probably have been expelled at some point if it weren’t for that guy’s way of squeaking out of things unscathed. 

And so somehow, it had just become a constant in his life that Jongin would always be around. At least, he always had been. This whole trip had left Sehun a bit too sentimental about the whole ordeal.

Not only did Jongin get assigned to the police task force over in Delta Quadrant, but Sehun had snagged a position working as a spacesuit technician in the Alpha Quadrant. Meaning, not only were they going to be separated, but they were as far away as they could have possibly been assigned from one another.

And of course the trip to the asteroid belt only took about a day and a half, so the boys had ended up drinking on the first night on the ship. Minseok set the ship to cruise on autopilot, nothing to worry about on clear open space streams. Then they started to pass out the ale.

Garlish Beer was cheap and easy to get in the Alpha Quadrant. It was sold by Garlones who have very little concept of age and therefore very easily accessible to cadets who weren’t supposed to be drinking and often underaged. Sehun and Jongin became quickly accustomed to the hoppy tasting beer and logically brought a case of it on the ship to drink anyways.

“No way.” Junmyeon shook his head when they brought it out, “I didn’t even drink that at Starcast.”

“Yeah, seriously.” Minseok laughed, “Let’s get you kids real drinks.”

Minseok then raided his supply of ales he had collected over the galaxy and found a really strong and mildly fruity one he got on a mission outside the quadrants. Everybody seemed to love it so much. And it had a tendency to get everyone buzzing, so after a couple of awkward exchanges about how life was, they quickly wound down into laughing, bubbly conversation. They quickly ran through topics about life and love.

“I think I dated one girl.” Jongin said, an everlasting grin fixated on his mouth ever since they started drinking, “Before I figured out that’s not my bag.”

“What is the bag for you?” Sehun laughed, “Quidknack bags?”

Jongin spit out his beer, causing the whole table to erupt in laughter as he fought to respond, “That’s just cruel, Hun.”

Sehun shook his head, recovering from the laughter it first this time, “I’ve dated girls before. They’re nice. So are dudes. I even tried some interspecies mingling on that school trip to the Charlie Quadrant. That … is not my thing.”

Jongin pointed a finger, “So _that’s_ where you were all of that trip. I swear I would turn around and Sehun would just be missing.”

 

Sehun shrugged, taking another big gulp.

“You guys definitely had more fun in academy than we did.” Junmyeon nodded.

“Definitely.” Minseok interjected, “My dating history is a lot less exciting than that.

“Well,” Junmyeon started, “I have one ex only, so maybe not less exciting than me.”

Sehun scoffed, “How do you only have one ex?”

“Not everybody has as much game as you, Sehun,” Junmyeon shot back.

Everybody started laughing again.

* * *

The asteroid belt was one big party at the end of the day. There was really nothing other than booze, ships linked together to a big domed platform and lots of graduates mingling with friends. It always starts out as one little gathering, but then it quickly gets out of hand.

Which to be fair, would be something that Sehun would be totally into normally. Yet, for some reason he can't shake his thoughts at all. He drifted off from the party and to a little balcony area that gave a great view of the asteroid belt while still keeping him in a gravity and air controlled environment.

He watched the rocks slowly drift in their band across space. It was mystifyingly beautiful and for the second time since graduating, he found himself captivated by how huge and vast space was. It made him think about how Jongin always talked of his future. He said he wanted to get married soon and start a family with his husband. He wanted to raise them to be part of a wonderful generation that hadn't seen war.

A figure came into his periphery, distracting him from watching the rocks flit through the star scape beyond them.

"You seem to like staring." Junmyeon commented softly.

"It's not really staring. It's thinking." Sehun corrected him.

"Well, sorry. Yeesh," Junmyeon smiled, leaning against the railing just yards from the dome surface, "I'm just trying to keep you company."

"Thanks." Sehun said sincerely, nodded as he gripped his cocktail a bit looser, "I do appreciate it from my favorite line chef."

"Hey, this line chef has a culinary degree. Watch your tongue." Junmyeon looked out at the asteroids as well, letting only a little space breathe between his words, "What are you thinking about?"

"I want to travel." Sehun mused, a smile gracing his face as he did so, "I want to go to other galaxies and eat tons of food. I want whenever I put in for vacation days for people to ask me where I'm going now."

Junmyeon nodded along, "I know a really good restaurant at the end of the universe. We should uh ... go sometime."

"Why can't sometime be now?"

Junmyeon looked over at Sehun. They had both been staring out the clear glass dome, not really looking out at each other as they had their conversation. Sehun didn't return the look, lost in his air headed thoughts and bold visions of the future for the time being. The only sound for a moment was some sort of electronic orchestra playing a rendition of some hit song in the distance.

"Okay." Junmyeon said, "Let's go."

"Really?" Sehun asked, breaking his trance to look at the older guy very suddenly, "How?"

"Well, okay." Junmyeon paused shrugging, "Maybe we can't get to the restaurant, but we can explore the asteroids."

Sehun's eyes almost shimmered, "Fuck yeah."

* * *

He felt a lot younger than 22 right then. He felt immeasurably younger than 22. He felt 16 maximum.

Junmyeon held his hand as they ran through the corridors, trying their best to dodge Minseok and Jongin as they did so. As they sprinted through the different docs, they were looking behind their shoulders and giggling like they were making some grand escape from their parents' backyards past curfew. In actuality, they were just taking their friend's ship for a joyride around the asteroid belt.

"Wait, shit." Sehun said, screeching to a halt, almost expecting skid marks on the pearlescent white floors afterwards, "How do we get on?"

"Minseok is almost as forgetful as Jongin." Junmyeon chuckled, "The password to his door for keyless is entry is his birthday."

"How do you know Jongin's forgetful?" Sehun asked.

Junmyeon answered as he punched in the code, "Minseok talks about him from time to time. You know, whenever he stops by Alpha Quadrant for a meal that is."

"Isn't he stationed there?"

"Nope. Delta."

Sehun furrowed his eyebrows, wondering why he didn't know any of this information. Jongin only ever mentioned Minseok on rare occasions so the information seemed a bit strange to him. The door let out a hiss as it pushed open, releasing the airlock and allowing them into the intermediary chamber.

This caused Sehun to shut his worrying mind down long enough to get into the chamber and activate the airlock. More hissing followed as the steely gray doors locked, and the decompression began. In a few more seconds the doors to Minseok's ship were open and they were bounding up into the stairs, closing it behind them. Sehun got a bit too excited and almost leapt up the stairs into the driver's seat.

"You can drive this thing?" Junmyeon asked, bounding up more stairs to meet his cohort in the cockpit.

"Yeah. I have a license." Sehun shrugged.

"A license? There's over a hundred types of licenses, Sehun." Junmyeon said.

"Don't worry, just --" Sehun bent over and grabbed a lever, yanking it back and watching the control HUD come to life in front of him.

The display lit up in hues of green and blue, showing him the controls in white lines and creating 3D shapes in the air. Sehun reached up and took hold of a cylinder within a circle and pulled it back, the 3D shapes moving with him as he went and the engine moaning to a start. Junmyeon watched in amazement. He had never once even thought about driving a ship, let alone watched somebody try it.

"I think?" Sehun said out loud before twisting his wrist and feeling the ship detach from the port, "Hey, hey, hey. Pay up."

"We didn't bet." Junmyeon smiled, "But I might pay you for a good time."

"Oh?" Sehun watched as the 3D shapes spiraled around his head, creating a visor in front of him that showed potential paths and views, "You haven't seen a good time yet."

* * *

The asteroids looked way more beautiful up close.

Sehun and Junmyeon held their drinks and watched from the cockpit as they careened closer and closer to the rolling and cascading stream of rocks. Some were rotating like marbles across a wood floor and some were larger, just sort of floating in their orientation. It gave Sehun an idea.

After setting down his cocktail, he reached up to a boxy looking handle shape projected above him. With a firm grip on the air, he pulled it down, activating the landing gear. Junmyeon raised an inquisitive eyebrow as Sehun lowered them onto one of the asteroids, falling into anterograde and coming to a gentle rest on the surface of it.

"How the fuck." Junmyeon stated.

"I dropped out of the pilot program." Sehun said, unbuckling himself and pulling off the projected visor.

"That explains a lot." Junmyeon muttered, before realizing Sehun was exiting the cockpit, "Where are you going?"

"Out!" Sehun called back at him.

Junmyeon covered his drink as he followed behind the impatient graduate, protests already forming in his mind.

* * *

"I hate you." Junmyeon said, stepping out onto surface of the asteroid.

His space boot covered foot gently landed on the surface of the space rock. He felt dust rise up off of the surface of it as he did. It was insane to think that they were quite literally on a chunk of dirt rocketing through the universe in a river of other dirtballs right now.

"Do you?" Sehun laughed.

Sehun snagged the hooking port off the back of Junmyeon's suit and slapped it against the side of the ship. This was quickly followed by a swift kick to Junmyeon's rear end which launched him out into the gravity lacking air around them.

Over the communication channel in his suit, Sehun could clearly hear the sound of Junmyeon fussing and cussing across the airwaves. It made him laugh, because how cute was it that this fully grown man and well established chef was losing his mind over floating a little ways away from a ship that he was entirely hooked to. The cable wasn't evident, sure, but there was a homing beacon on his suit that when activated would pull him back into the hooking port and consequently to safety.

It was a perfectly safe system because Sehun made it himself.

The tall man reached behind him and grabbed his own hooking port to snap onto the ship next to Junmyeon's. They wouldn't be gone for long on Minseok's crap air supplies so he wasted no time jumping off after that.

With a couple of kicks from the boosters in the suit, he found himself soaring up towards Junmyeon and spreading his body so the anti-thrusters in the suit would pull him to a stop. There was a pull from the orbit of the belt, but Sehun quickly found out how to work with it. Space suits were his speciality after all.

A few more adjustments left him staring directly at Junmyeon, who was less than excited about this arrangement.

"I don't think I like this." Junmyeon stuttered out.

"You aren't looking in the right direction." Sehun asserted.

The younger of the two took Junmyeon's arm and spun him out to look at the planets that the asteroid belt ran between. They were large, beautiful, and vastly different.

One was a sandy red planet that was hot, almost unbearable. The only things that flourished there were rare minerals and gems people would risk their lives to get a crack at. The other was a more habitable one, bluish in color from how much water was on its surface and white from the clouds that circled the atmosphere. There were floating cities on it whose lights glinted back at them, calling out like beacons in the sky.

Between the two and what the asteroid belt looked like it led to was a big white star shining dully in the distance. As they floated next to each other, with Sehun's hand around Junmyeon's wrist, they found themselves captivated one last time by the stellar views their universe had to offer them.

"Wow." Junmyeon breathed, "Sehun, this is amazing. I think I get it."

"Get what?" Sehun asked, glancing at Junmyeon out of his sleek blue helmet and clear face plate.

"Wanting to travel." He said simply, "I want to see and do everything too."

"See? It's insane."

"Thank you for taking me." Junmyeon managed to finagle himself to face Sehun. He wanted to be taken seriously in the wake of that spectacular moment, "It means so much that you let me do this with you. You're brilliant."

Sehun laughed, the voice of Junmyeon seeming different when it was piped in through his ears and not traversing the actual air between their faces, "No, you are."

“So …” Junmyeon smiled shyly, “How do I get back?”

Sehun raised his eyebrows, “Oh, just press the return button on your wristlet.”

Junmyeon turned the arm of his space suit over so he could see the wristlet. It contained a few buttons labeled in a way that he couldn’t exactly comprehend, but there was a little red button printed “Return.”

“Will you …” Junmyeon brought his eyes back to Sehun’s gaze, “Do it with me?”

“What? Are you scared?” Sehun cocked an eyebrow, “Aw, that’s okay. I remember my first time in space too. 

Junmyeon rolled his eyes, “Okay, alright.”

“Ready?”

Sehun held up his wrist as well, bringing his pointer finger to a pause right over the red button. He hovered there, waiting for a response from the other astronaut. This came in the form of an exaggerated nod, just to make sure Sehun copied the motion.

Sehun nodded as well, “Okay. 3 … 2 … 1 … Go.”

They both pressed it and were immediately whisked away, the suit piloting itself back to the ship in a matter of seconds. As they whizzed through the air, they noticed their arcs getting closer and closer as they spiraled towards the ship. In fact, they began to bump into one another.

It dawned on Sehun on that perhaps he had placed the Hooking Ports too close to one another.

Within a couple of breaths they knocked into the side of the ship with Sehun flat on his back, hooked into the port properly, and Junmyeon pinning him into the side as his own suit tried to get him to the Hooking Port. The sudden impact left them both out of breath and their space visors knocked against one another, only literally an inch of glass between their faces only.

“Shit.” Sehun breathed, “I’m uh … there’s still some kinks to work out.”

“Kinks? Oh … I’m …” Junmyeon’s face became a little flushed, realizing he almost couldn’t move because of the pull from the suit to the port, “Sehun.”

“I got it. Don’t …” Sehun trailed off, putting his hands on Junmyeon’s hips and using his whole body to push the guy off of him, spinning him to the side and leaving both of them breathless as they laid against the ship’s side.

And for some stupid reason, as their backs lay flat against the cold, unforgiving steel of the ship, he could only think about holding Junmyeon’s hips. Suddenly the air felt very thin in his suit as he sucked it in, trying to get as much of the circulated oxygen through his lungs as he could. Had it really been so long since he had somebody else pressed against him that he felt unable to breathe?

Junmyeon glanced over at him, shifting his hand up on the ship a bit to get better leverage. This in turn brought his hand a bit closer to Sehun’s.

Sehun kept his eyes straight ahead as they heaved there for another second. It was totally fine. At least that’s what he told himself. He had two drinks max while at the party so if he just veered his mind to another place, he could calm down and get himself back on the ship without looking like a complete idiot.

Except … he could only think about how his fingers were within a hair of Junmyeon’s and how easy it would be to just reach over and touch them. Without a care in the world he could take Junmyeon’s hand and lead him inside. They could exchange no words, but understand everything completely.

He actually inched his fingers a breath closer, then an inch, then a bit more. With a gentle rotation of his hand, he slid it underneath of the other man’s hand, pulling it up off the steel of ship. Junmyeon let his hand be taken by the others.

“I guess _now_ I owe you for a good time.” Junmyeon smiled.

Sehun couldn’t help himself, “Not just yet.”

* * *

Junmyeon was gentler than Sehun expected, in fact he was eager and lovely and wonderful.

They ended up in that little nook with the pillows padded underneath them and Sehun kissing Junmyeon nervously. It didn’t take long for the nervousness to evaporate however, in the wake of reciprocation.

Though he had always considered this to be something he wanted to do, he never exactly got the chance to do it. Nor did he think Junmyeon would be as excited about it as he was.

Kissing always felt like a chore to Sehun, actually. It was a means to an end, yet right now it could have gone on forever with no end and he would have been in absolute paradise. It started as a simmer, no time limit inhibiting their feelings, and slowly came to a rolling boil. The future of their actions crystallized. It was because Junmyeon made everything so damn easy. He was always saying gentle encouragements and asking if Sehun was good with everything. Of course Sehun made some back talk, making Junmyeon a little flustered, but also raising his body temperature

Sehun’s fingers pushed the buttons out of Junmyeon's dress shirt that he had worn specifically for the party, and then he sat up, straddling Junmyeon so he could pull his own shirt off. It flew across the little hall to the nook and landed somewhere entirely unimportant on the ship. Junmyeon kept his eyes on the other boy the whole time, mesmerized so much so that he almost forgot to shake off his own shirt.

Sehun made a little fake out, leading Junmyeon to believe he was going to kiss him again, but instead going for his neck. It caused some giggling from both parties, and Junmyeon exacting revenge by undoing Sehun's pants and somehow managing to focus long enough to get them over his ass. Luckily these pants were made of soft, stretchy material since they were designed to go under the space suit. This wasn't exactly a benefit Sehun had in mind when he designed that, though he wasn’t complaining right now.

With an eventual give from the tall one on top, Sehun's space pants and underwear ended up around his ankles. He never exactly got the time to finish kicking them off, however, since Junmyeon's fingers were pressed between his cheeks in a few seconds, stroking slowly.

A whimper slipped out of Sehun's mouth when he did so and he pressed back against it, loving the feeling already. Perhaps it was the congratulatory atmosphere of the encounter or just the way Junmyeon attended the action, but he wanted it more than anything at the time.

"Fuck." Sehun groaned, "Lube."

"Oh." Junmyeon laughed, "I mean, I'm sure you know what Minseok has this nook for, right?"

"Yeah, stargazing." Sehun rolled his eyes. “I think I have some upstairs.”

Junmyeon just laughed in response, taking his unoccupied hand to seek under the pillows until he found a clear tube. After pulling it out, Sehun's eyes got wider. Although, that made a lot of sense in retrospect. Minseok was quite the flirt.

Mere minutes later, Sehun had three fingers probing him and it felt like a dream. So much so that he even began to lose himself in the fantasy a bit, his hips rolling against Junmyeon as he shifted up and down against the ever stiffening bulge below him. Somehow, they kept kissing as Sehun gently fucked himself on Junmyeon’s fingers. Their lips kept hanging together, tongues falling in and out of contact, and Junmyeon’s fingers stroking the back of Sehun’s neck as they did it all.

When they did break to pant and just unabashedly listen to the other one make sounds, Junmyeon would whisper sweet nothings to the boy, "You're amazing."

"I know.” Sehun smirked. He slowed down for a moment, no longer using Junmyeon’s fingers as a dildo and spoke in a low voice, "Come on, let's go already."

Junmyeon was all too happy to oblige. It took very minimal effort to free Junmyeon's cock from the space suit pants. Maybe a little shimmy here and there, but it slipped off with no effort and Junmyeon’s cock came out with ease. This made Sehun wonder if Junmyeon was easy to perk up, or if he was just that good at foreplay.

He said something about that too and Junmyeon found it really funny.

With gentle positioning and a bit of guidance, Sehun sank down slowly on Junmyeon's cock. It was a very careful process, something that Sehun wasn't normally used to. Actually, he rarely found himself on the receiving end, but god did it feel good. His mind selfishly wondered if maybe he could do the same to Junmyeon as well one day.

His face twitched with a little guilt. He’s no stranger to sleeping with somebody on the first date, but he never imagines doing it a second time when he hasn’t finished the first. Often times, he’s never even looking forward to a second time. Especially, he isn’t considering the possibilities of what it might be like to fuck somebody that’s about to fuck him. But, when Junmyeon’s fingers went back to Sehun’s neck, he felt like it was okay to get lost in the fantasy happening right in front of him.

Everything was a slow melt going forward. He did most of the work for Junmyeon, using his knees and thighs to ride his cock slowly and let out the moans that nobody else would hear, but the man underneath him. They bounced about the halls of the spaceship and ricocheted back to the couple.

However, Sehun wasn't often one for games, and he started to speed up a bit, feeling the wetness urge him on as well. Without much hesitation, Junmyeon caught up with him. He moved his hands down to Sehun's ass, holding it in place and began to take over, using his own hips to pump up into him and then back just so he could thrust in once more.

The speed was perfect and impeccable, sure, but the angle was what did Sehun in. Feeling the sensation against his prostate shot bullets of air out of him in little whimpers. He reached up and flattened his palms against the cold wall of the nook as Junmyeon fucked him with endurance and passion.

So it turns out that Junmyeon was, in fact, just that good, because he went for a bit longer, pumping in and out of the boy at such a steady pace that Sehun's cock was hard and red against his pelvis. One of the hands on Sehun’s ass released its grip and slipped along the sweaty skin of Sehun’s hips. It then found Sehun’s cock and his thumb pressed against his slit, the other fingers tickling along the sides.

"Fuck." Sehun gasped against neck skin when he felt the contact, "Please."

"Yes." Junmyeon answered, breathless and sweaty, his hair sticking up as he felt it approaching like the eye of a hurricane, "Of course."

It only took a few strokes before Sehun came into the space between their chests. He came in a shuddering and screaming mess, humping back sporadically on Junmyeon's cock as he did so, which left Junmyeon on a few more solid pushes until he himself came, his mouth dropping open as he arched back, somehow lifting them both just an inch off the bottom of the nook. 

It was blissful for a moment, both of them sweaty and vulnerable as they lay together there. However, they were both too sticky and damp to really slip off into sleep like that and instead Sehun rolled off of his companion and sighed, putting his head back as he looked up at the stars.

“I should take a shower.” Sehun stated softly, "But I don't want to get up."

"We should move the ship." Junmyeon said, looking up at the sky, "But I don't want to get up."

They both laughed because of course they were going to do it. In just a minute after the crash had truly set in and sex seemed like a far off concept compared to the glow of having company whilst being naked, they'd get up and go do these things.

Unfortunately, they both fell asleep instead.

* * *

It was hard to sleep on this ship anyways.

In fact it took a long time for Sehun to get adjusted to living on the space station. While it had artificial light cycles based on Earth’s, which is where he’s from, you could still clearly see the depth and darkness of space beyond the glass dome. Most everybody’s circadian rhythms slinked in alongside the fake atmosphere. It took Jongin about two weeks to start sleeping comfortably and fully at night, but Sehun struggled. He still struggles.

It was just knowing that the sun doesn’t set in space. It doesn’t rise either.

So instead he’s taken the unhealthy approach of having no sleep schedule. He sleeps when he’s tired, once he’s finally run out of steam and there’s nothing he needs to do for a few hours. This is something that Jongin always laughs at him for, subtly offering to help him from afar, but knowing that Sehun would keep himself afloat. In fact, Sehun probably slept more than Jongin did in the long run, just not at regular intervals like his room mate.

When he blinked his eyes open now, he was hit with a couple of sensations. One being that his lips and mouth were very dry since he had fallen asleep with his mouth open. Another being that he needed a shower badly. And the third that Junmyeon was asleep with his mouth open as well, taking in slow, deep breathes.

His dark brown hair was pushed back and dried in odd messy shapes. He had a blanket haphazardly tugged onto his body, covering everything from his belly button down, but entirely leaving his chest open to rise and fall with his lungs accordingly.

And Sehun might have stared for just a few seconds longer than he should have. Enough so that guilty thoughts began to set in. Ones that told him he shouldn’t be doing this because of a million reasons. Like, he’s an established man with a life and Sehun is an intruder that just likes eating at his restaurant. Or that he just graduated and everything is changing in his life so quickly. In a few days he could be sucked into his new life and forgettnig everything from before. Like Junmyeon and Minseok and Jongin.

Sehun let that thought out with an exhale. He had just managed to get his fears about the future and leaving safety and what he knew behind. It didn’t feel like that much of a problem when Junmyeon was there to talk to him, but the fears couldn’t stay leashed forever.

Just then, Junmyeon’s breathing changed a little bit and he saw a twitch as the man’s eyebrows ruffled together a bit. It was almost blissful to watch someone as handsome and Junmyeon go from completely unconscious to blinking his eyes open and staring up at the stars.

“Wow …” Junmyeon murmured groggily, “Pretty.”

“Me or the stars?” Sehun asked, a coy smile playing at his lips.

“Both.” Junmyeon replied, looking over at Sehun.

They shared a brief look, communicating nothing between their eyes besides maybe a sudden recognition of how small they were in the context of the universe.

“Is this like …?” Junmyeon squinted.

Sehun squinted back at him in a mocking fashion, “Like … soft?”

“Oh, nevermind then.” Junmyeon rolled his eyes and begin to sit up.

“Whoa.” Sehun reached up and snagged Junmyeon’s arm, pulling him back down into the bed.

Before the guy could protest, Sehun leaned over and kissed him gently. It was a chaste kiss, fading into two smiles pressed up against each other.

“You make a lot of silent promises, kid.” Junmyeon breathed, “You don’t even know where you’re gonna be in a few weeks.”

Sehun gave an eyeroll in response and laid his palm on the other guy’s cheek, “Quadrant A like always.”

“Sure.” Junmyeon laughed, his cheek warming up a bit at the touch. He laughed it off for a second before recognizing the lack of demeanor change from Sehun and widening his eyes, “Wait, you’re serious?”

“No shit.” Sehun snorted, “I got assigned before I left. So you’ll be dealing with me for a while now.”

“You say that like it’s a bad thing.” Junmyeon said.

“I really hope it is for your sake.” Sehun winked.

* * *

Sehun had a lot on his mind in general. He spent most of his time thinking.

Sometimes, no, often, those thoughts got dismal.

They had driven the ship back to the port, realizing they had been gone far, far too long and had drifted quite a ways from the big party station where everyone else was departing to complete their road trips through the belt or just heading back home to get a head start on moving.

Their companions weren’t too upset about them hijacking the ship.

For one because they had drunkenly fallen asleep next to each other right outside the door, but also because it gave them a reason to pick at their friends. The jokes about sexcapades and “smashteroids” would go on for approximately six hours after they got back on board. Minseok was actually impressed Sehun piloted with as much fuel efficiency as he did, though.

However, after some time of arguing and making jokes about who does or doesn’t have a big something or other, they decided to do a quick loop of the belt before heading back home. It didn’t feel complete if they didn’t actually go through the belt anyways.

Sehun, however, didn’t stay to hear Minseok’s full show as he pretended to be a tour guide, pointing different things out from the cockpit as they zoomed between the two planets and following the rock road laid before them.

He had other things on his mind so he traversed the short hallways of Minseok’s ship and ran his fingers across the cold metal of the walls. Just thinking.

A couple of pictures he passed caught his eyes. They were of Minseok in various incarnations. A couple pinned to the wall looked a bit older and weathered from before live printing became a possibility. It was him as a child with friends and family. There were a few from his graduation too. Even one that Sehun himself was in. His freshman year there was a huge group of them that would all hang out together. 

Every single one of the people in the photo had gone on to graduate before Sehun and Jongin did, leaving them as the last of their friend group to leave the academy. At one point in time they had thought they would be friends forever, but it’s never quite been that way. Yixing went to medical school. Luhan went into theatre of all things. Jongdae was a botanist somewhere in Beta Quadrant while Chanyeol and Baekhyun had gotten caught up in some sort of smuggling ring a few years after. Kris was teaching at the academy now along with Tao. Kyungsoo graduated from the program Junmyeon was in, but took an affinity for pastries and moved to another planet to bake.

They had all moved on and found people and things in the real world. 

Sehun looked a bit further to see more pictures of just Jongin and Minseok together. Laughing, smiling, doing cool things on all those weekend Jongin had left to see friends. They looked so happy.

His fingers dropped away from the photos and he shoved his hands in his pockets. With each step he became a bit more upset, feeling his shuffle turn into a jog throughout the ship’s echoey insides. Eventually, he ended up at that nook and hopped up onto the platform, looking directly out into the stars.

They gave him no comfort this time, however.

Instead the bubbled glass was a bit smudged from his own fingerprints and he could only focus on the reflection of his own face. He saw his red and puffy eyes, his lips that were still a bit swollen, and a wrinkled forehead that was trying to hold the weight of the world. It was almost impossible to look away as he watched himself start to cry.

The tears were hot, which he didn’t remember about crying. They were hot and they stung as they pushed through his eyelids and rolled down his cheeks. When the lines met at his chin he didn’t wipe them away. He just let them stay there and dry like he did when he was a kid.

He had known for a long time that this was coming. It was no secret that he would lose his friends to graduation every year. It hurt to watch Kyungsoo and Jongdae and Baekhyun and Chanyeol get those pins on their chest, but it didn’t hurt as much as this.

This was something else. Because Jongin was his best friend and something more. He represented the end of what Sehun had always known.

He reasoned himself through it in the most philosophical manner he could from there. There were stacks of conclusions that he came to that might have eased his mind had he considered the irrationality of his emotions before crying, but they didn’t stop him from shuddering and sobbing.

Even when Junmyeon came looking for him, he didn’t stop. He wanted to when he felt arms wrap around his shoulders, pulling him back into the man’s chest. Really, it was comforting to slide back into Junmyeon’s lap and embrace, but the tears kept falling until they ran out.

* * *

After his tantrum subsided, Junmyeon had refused to leave his side. It was cute, if not annoying, how stubborn the guy was about the whole thing. He sat there and listened to Sehun list every fear and trepidation he had about the future. Even with the most irrational of insecurities that Sehun had to list off, Junmyeon nodded and said something reassuring. Sehun let out every single thing on his mind, filling the spaces between their faces.

Slowly, slowly, slowly, he began to feel better. When the words left so did some of the pain. And Junmyeon was gentle as he drew invisible patterns on Sehun’s biceps until the words subsided and his eyes ended up shutting.

* * *

“You guys have beds you know.” Jongin said as Sehun hopped up the stairs.

His eyes were wide, still taking in his response for a second, “I … know. I mean, what?”

Jongin laughed. Mostly because he knew how confused Sehun was immediately after waking up. It always took him a few minutes to readjust to the land of the living in the mornings. In fact, when they roomed together, they wouldn’t really speak until they both left to go to class. Once they were walking they would talk but before that it was just grunts and shuffling around the room.

The taller boy finished his travel up the stairs and started to head out into the main compartment where the little kitchen and living area was. Jongin put out a hand though, stopping Sehun in his tracks.

“Sehun.”

Sehun raised his eyebrows and Jongin let down his hand. He could smell what Junmyeon was cooking just behind him. The depth of Minseok’s voice talking back and forth with Junmyeon was crystal clear to him despite the distance. His eager eyes flicked back up to look at Sehun.

“I’m going to move in with Minseok when I get to the Delta Quadrant.” Jongin stated, biting his lip between the sentences, “Is that okay?”

Sehun didn’t respond right away. It wasn’t exactly like he was surprised to hear this news. After last night’s lamentings he had all but reasoned through this much. But he chuckled at it still.

“Why are you asking me if it’s okay? You don’t need my permission.”

Jongin shifted, a steady smile still on his lips, “Well, we’ve lived with each other for so long. And I know you’re … difficult when it comes to changes. I’m scared of the future, but Minseok makes me think it can be alright. I just want to be sure that everything’s okay with you.”

Sehun’s eyes lost focus on Jongin and instead pulled their attention to that of Junmyeon who was cooking in the kitchen. He dumped something out of a pan and into one of the square plates that Minseok was holding. The blond guy pulled the plate away, rotating it with another one and parlaying back with Junmyeon. They both laughed and the way Junmyeon’s cheeks came up when he smiled widely incited Sehun to smile himself.

“Actually.” Sehun looked back to Jongin, “I think everything’s going to be just fine.”

Jongin’s look of concern seemed to melt off his face in a matter of seconds with those words. Something had been exchanged beyond the words that they both understood. He reached over and hooked his hand on Sehun’s shoulder, dragging him into a hug.

It took Sehun by surprise, but he took no time in wrapping his long arms around Jongin. They’ve only hugged a few times, but this was a really good one. It felt really good.

It felt really conclusive.

“Hey!” Junmyeon called, “Food, guys!”

“One second!” Sehun called back, “I feel like I haven’t eaten in days.”

“Huh,” Jongin responded, pulling back and out of the hug gently, “I wonder why.”


End file.
